Starting Your First Business

December 22, 2017

Are You Ready?

Will be one of the most daunting tasks you’ll ever undertake. I am constantly asked for advice from those just starting off. There is no magic formula that guarantees success, but in my years of experience I’ve seen a lot of mistakes get made and I’ve taken note.

When you’re starting out your business you often have a “my way or the highway” mentality.

This is your idea, your financing, your career on the line. It’s important that you’re confident in your work, but that confidence can easily fall into hubris. Unless you are somehow brilliant in finance, marketing, production, and distribution you need to accept that bringing in other experts can only strengthen you.

I’ve seen countless businesses fail

The entrepreneur refuses to get outside help and finds themselves overextended and out of their range. Your time is incredibly valuable. That means knowing when you’re wasting way too much of it trying to do things outside of your expertise. It is much better to invest in experts who can ensure success, and focus your time on your priorities.

As I wrote about previously, you need a good finance person. Beyond that, seeking help in areas like digital marketing is always a good idea. Digital marketing, when done well, is a cheap way to reach thousands of people who might be interested in your product.

I like to call my group of experts my “Board of Advisors”. You don’t have to be paying salaries to all of these people. First and foremost, reach out to anyone you may know in the banking sector, also accountants, lawyers, even creative marketers, Use your connections. The importance of networking cannot be understated. After that, look into paying people as consultants when you need them.

“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” – Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn cofounder.

Humility and the ability to recognize your own flaws is not a weakness, it’s a strength. Fill in the gaps. If you do that successfully your business is already off to a great start.

I love this suggestion by Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, “Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea.” You need to make sure you’re constantly getting feedback, it’s far too easy to get lost among your ideas and lose perspective. Nothing promises success, but learning the key factors to success definitely makes your dreams much closer in reach!